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Cut or uncut for AIDS prevention?

    JOHANNESBURG

    Insufficient clinical evidence exists to widely promote circumcision as an HIV/AIDS prevention method in males, an expert has warned.

    Researchers have long believed that male circumcision helped protect men from HIV and prevent them from spreading it because cells in the foreskins of uncircumcised men have receptors that facilitate viral entry.

    However, South African HIV/AIDS prevention expert Quarraisha Abdool Karim said studies conducted to date contained several important biases that could distort the results, but three major ongoing clinical trials could shed light on the subject in a few years.

    "Results from these trials would need to be carefully considered prior to any public health policy decision," Reuters quoted Karim as saying.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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